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Re: Doing your own graphics (an illustrators perspective)

I've avoided this thread till now, because others have responded so well. I
can't resist this one, though. I think Michael Maloney has just shot
himself in the foot...

At 12:30 PM 5/14/96 -0400, Michael J. Maloney wrote:
<SNIP>

>I believe the resistance is caused by US (professional technical
>communicators). Actually, it's the lack of resistance which has caused the
>situation. I've heard it in a dozen responses.... "no money honey" ..... the
>boss made me do it. When the liabilty dollars begin adding up because of
>misunderstood illustrations... bingo! I believe the SOLUTION is within us.
>Writers have the STC. Although the STC is supposed to be for all technical
>communicators, if illustrators were a force within the STC, the
>writer/illustrator animal would never have survived. Dig?

Note the phrase :When the liability dollars begin adding up because of
misunderstood illustrations...bingo!"

I am not a technical illustrator. I have had no *formal* training in
illustration, but I am fluent on several drawing software packages,
including Corel3 and AutoSketch (AutoCad's little cousin), and have read
books and journal articles to educate myself on page design, layout, and
simple illustrations.

All of the documents I produce need simple sketches of one kind or another.
I create PFDs (process flow diagrams), block flow diagrams of systems and
parts of systems, and flowcharts showing information or procedure flow. All
of these are simple line drawings, with appropriate text included as part of
the graphics.

No one has ever misunderstood these drawings. They are simple, clean, and
completely appropriate.

Why should I hire a professional illustrator for these? The docs I create
for my clients don't NEED anything more sophisticated than what I can handle
quite well, thank you. And yes, I do my own page layout and production,
too. Such is the life of a freelancer.

So far the only tech comm task I've considered hiring out is indexing. I
HATE indexing.